


La Cage Éclipse

by kyrilu



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Family, Family Secrets, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-16 07:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13049028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyrilu/pseuds/kyrilu
Summary: Kaito receives two tickets for the movieThe Scarlet Investigatorin the mail.





	La Cage Éclipse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lucathia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucathia/gifts).



His mom was rambling about Vegas again. It was the usual cheerful reports of the last show she saw (some guys who were painted blue), or the new magic trick she came up with.

Kaito listened and idly toyed with a deck of cards between his hands. Suddenly, remembering, he said, "Oi, Kaa-san, I got two tickets in the mail for a movie premiere. Were those meant for you?"

There was a sudden spark in her eyes. "Two tickets? They're for that mystery/thriller that's opening this weekend."

"Huh? Yeah, that was it." Kaito was sure he saw a trailer or two before. It was some big American/Japanese production.

"Well, I can't go, because I'm here." On Kaito's tablet screen, Kuroba Chikage shrugged. "But you can take Aoko-chan! I'm sure she'll love it~"

Kaito flushed and scowled. "Shut up, Kaa-san, I still can't believe you told her my weakness. Anyway - what's all this about? Is it from someone in the entertainment industry who knows you or--?"

"Mm. You'll see, if you look closely."

Chikage waved goodbye and ended the conversation, before Kaito could question her further.

Typical.

Kaito reached over to pick up the envelope on the sofa beside him. There was no return address, only the name _Kuroba_ and the house’s address. And of course, the two tickets inside, embossed with the movie premiere’s date, time and location.

“Look closely, look closely,” Kaito muttered, squinting at the tickets. Then one of his doves – Spade – unceremoniously fluttered by, brushing past him.

Damn, this is what he deserved for training his doves to pick locks. Ace and Spade always seemed to be escaping from their cages.

The ticket rustled out of Kaito’s hand, fluttering across his face, and Kaito scrambled to seize it and hurry after Spade —

\--and then it hit him, a sweet, faint scent.

“Lemons,” he said out loud.

\--

When Kaito was a kid, his father took him aside and said, “Science is the foundation for magic.”

“Science?” Kaito asked.

“You need your fingers to be fast,” Toichi said, squeezing Kaito’s hand, “and you need your courage and joy here.” Touching Kaito on the chest.

“You need your poker face here,” he said, gently poking Kaito on the nose. Then he tapped Kaito’s forehead. “And here, that’s where all the tricks are. Psychology, physics, engineering, chemistry.”

“That doesn’t sound very fun,” Kaito said, frowning. “It doesn’t seem like magic.”

“But it is,” Toichi said. “Do you remember what I told you about the magician Howard Thurston?”

“ _I wouldn’t deceive you for the world_ ,” Kaito recited in accented English. He put on his best poker face, made a sweeping gesture with his hands. “ _I would not deceive you for anything._ ”

Toichi nodded. “He made that promise to his audiences, and then he tricked them. Thurston levitated a woman – a princess, he told them – with a clever apparatus. The original apparatus was first made by a magician named Maskelyne, who came from a family of scientists. It was Thurston who took that trick and made it famous.”

“How did the appa – apparatus work?”

“It’s a trade secret,” Toichi said.

“Oyaji!”

“All right, all right,” Toichi said, holding up his hands. “I’ll tell you.”

He did.

From that day on, Toichi taught Kaito basic scientific principles. He told him how optical illusions worked, and the different pyrotechnics in a magician’s arsenal. Jii showed Kaito how to tinker with magical apparatus and equipment.

(Meanwhile, Chikage pitched in to fill in the blanks about disguises -“I’m better than your father, you know” - and she demonstrated a thorough knowledge of engineering, economics and archeology that Kaito found baffling. But it made a lot of sense, in retrospect, when Kaito found out about the Phantom Lady.)

\--

So, it was his dad who showed him invisible ink. It was a simple trick, a child’s trick.

After making sure Spade was back in her cage, Kaito hunted for a lighter. He clicked it on and held it against one of the tickets, careful not to burn it.

In the white space in between the movie time and location, the English word _hotel_ appeared. The city – _Beika_ – was underlined by the invisible ink as well.

Kaito tried the second ticket. It was another date and time, an hour before the movie premiere.

Kaito wondered if this was how the recipients of his heist notes felt like.

“I’m no detective,” he told Spade. “Maybe Kaa-san’s playing some kind of game with me…it sounds like her…”

She had told Kaito to look closely, after all.

\--

Beika had many, many hotels. Looking at the map app on his phone, Kaito tried to narrow it down to hotels near the Beika Theater, but that still left about a half a dozen hotels.

There had to be another clue.

Kaito set the lighter near the envelope, but no luck. It didn’t show anything.

\--

Kaito was surprised when Hakuba actually picked up the phone. He had no idea what time it was in Paris.

“Oi, Hakuba, I need to pick your brain.”

“What’s this about, Kuroba-kun?” Hakuba said. It seemed like he was about to make a wry comment about Kaitou Kid’s thieving ways, but somehow, he held back.

Huh. After that one heist where Kid had gotten shot, Hakuba seemed more cordial with him. Strange, but that was Hakuba for you.

“Invisible ink,” Kaito pronounced. “It’s a staple in spy stories, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Hakuba said. “Sympathetic inks were commonly used during the World Wars. The inks required a specific chemical reagent to reveal.”

“I think I read somewhere that MI6 experimented with bodily fluids. They stopped because the smell was terrible,” Kaito said cheerily, and Hakuba sighed on the other end. “But I’m not talking about sympathetic inks, Hakuba. More like traditional organic fluids like milk. Why would someone use one of those for a message, anyway? It seems too easy to figure out, if you held it to fire or light. You would think they would go through the trouble to use sympathetic inks instead.”

“Perhaps this individual assumed that the recipient wouldn’t find it easy,” Hakuba said. “Or they wanted it to be easy to discover on purpose.”

Discover on purpose--?

The smell of lemon was fairly obvious. It would have been a bit more subtle if the sender chose milk or soapy water.

Lemon was a _clue_ , not just the type of invisible ink that the sender happened to choose.

“Hakuba,” Kaito said, “thank you. You were actually helpful.”

“Mm. After you hang up, I’ll ring the inspector and tell him to check Kid’s heist notices for invisible ink the next time around.”

Aw, Hakuba had been doing so well, too.

Kaito laughed and ended the call.

\--

Lemongrass Hotel was the only hotel near Beika Theater that fit.

Best case scenario, this was a game Kaa-san organized to mess with him. Worst case scenario, this was a trap, from Snake’s organization or any other enemies of Kaitou Kid.

In case of the latter, Kaito decided not to invite Aoko, although he felt a pang of regret. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Lemongrass Hotel’s lobby was modern and tasteful. Minimalist paintings decorated the walls and comfortable sofas were scattered around the room.

Kaito didn’t see anything or anyone that seemed out of place. No darkly dressed gunman or police officers.

He took the movie tickets out of his blazer pocket and examined them, with a frown. He had, in fact, made the effort to dress nicely for the premiere…

“You got those tickets, too?”

Kaito spun around.

Oh, shit.

It was yet another one of Japan’s countless young detectives. The one who had not reacted well to Kaitou Kid disguising himself as her.

The detective was dressed formally, as well – suit and blazer and trousers, her short dark hair neatly combed back.

Kaito was not terrified. He was not. Definitely not.

“Uh, yeah,” Kaito said, holding up the tickets. “Received them in the mail a couple days ago, no return address. I’m Kaito, nice to meet you! It’s a mystery.”

“Sera Masumi,” she replied. “I’m a detective, so mysteries are my forte. Although, of course, I was wondering how I could have been found, considering I’ve been moving from hotel to hotel…” There was a narrowed wariness in her eyes.

“Let’s figure it out. I’m no detective, but I've picked up a trick or two.” Kaito gestured at the juice bar in the lobby. “Drinks are on me, tantei-san. Tell me what you know.”

\--

Sera’s tickets were also written in invisible ink lemon juice. Like Kaito’s, one had the date and time. For the second, instead of _HOTEL_ , it read _LOBBY_ and there was a little doodle beside it.

“It looks like a leaf,” Sera said, scrutinizing it.

“It’s a feather.”

“Eh?”

“My family name is Kuroba.” Kaito hadn’t wanted to give her his full name, but it seems like he had to in this situation.

She simply nodded. “Where do you think the tickets came from?”

“My mother,” Kaito said. “She has connections in the entertainment industry and she didn’t seem surprised when I told her about the tickets. And she’s just the type of person who likes messing with me.”

“But that wouldn’t make sense, because I don’t think I know your mother – or anyone named Kuroba,” Sera said. “No, I was wondering, if it was my…” Her voice trailed off. “Never mind.”

She quietly tapped her finger on the word _scarlet_ on her ticket.

“What do you know about the writer of the movie’s screenplay, Kuroba-kun?”

“I didn’t look into it,” Kaito admitted. He hadn’t given much thought to the movie itself. Wasn’t the screenplay writer the author of a popular novel series inspired by – oh.

Oh.

\--

_Seven years ago_

There was a man in white standing on the rooftop. His cape streamed behind him, flapping in the night wind as moonlight played over him.

He heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He said, “Congratulations on your new book, Kudou-san.”

“You’ve already read it?” Kudou Yusaku said. He was smiling, his hands shrugged in his pockets, his glasses glinting in the moonlight. “I can autograph it for you.”

Kaitou Kid chuckled. “Maybe next time.”

“The Night Baron owes his existence to you. Yukiko said we should give you a slice of the royalties. Unfortunately, my editor wasn’t pleased at the idea of giving money to a thief.”

“No, Kudou-san,” Kid said, reaching into his white suit and holding a gem to the sky, “this is all the treasure I need for the moment.”

Nothing. Kid tossed the jewel behind him in a glimmering arc; Yusaku caught it deftly and pocketed it.

“Hey,” Yusaku said. “There were snipers at tonight’s heist. They weren’t ours. Is this something we should worry about?”

“I’ve earned myself an unpleasant audience.” Kid’s voice was unexpectedly tight.

“Talk to the inspector,” Yusaku said. He moved toward Kid, grasped him on the wrist. “Or any of my law enforcement contacts. If you’re being hunted…”

“Don’t worry about me, Kudou-san,” Kid said. “I know how to handle trouble. Remember Florence?”

“I’ve heard the Italian mafia still has it out for you, yes,” Yusaku said wryly. But his tone became somber. “You have to be careful. Toichi—“

“Kudou-san.” A gentle warning.

“You have a wife. A son. Yukiko and Sharon would be devastated if anything happened to you.”

“It’s all right,” Kid said. He reached for his cape, brushing Yusaku away. He smiled in the moonlight, shadows dancing over him. “I have magic on my side. Have you heard of The Flying Bird Cage trick? A magician shows the audience a cage with a trapped canary. He lets audience members touch the cage to ensure it’s real. Then it vanishes. The bird and the confines are gone.”

“The cage is designed to collapse. The bird dies in the inside—“

“No,” Kid said firmly. “At the end, the magician produces the bird, alive and whole.”

“It’s another canary,” Yusaku said. “A second bird who looks the same, the first one still crushed. This – this is a heavy burden to put on them.”

“Have faith in me, tantei-san,” Kid said. “I wouldn’t deceive you for the world.”

\--

“You just realized something,” Sera noted.

Kaito knew that he couldn’t very well say: _Kudou Yusaku is the author of The Night Baron novels, which were based on my father, Kaitou Kid._

There was a world famous author and detective who knew Kaito’s identity. A person who sent movie tickets instead of sending the inspector to arrest him. Unless this was some elaborate trap?

Kaito could feel panic ricocheting through his mind. Breathe, he told himself. Breathe. Poker face. He wasn’t in any immediate danger.

“Kudou-san might be a family friend,” he told Sera nonchalantly, until he realized that that might actually be true. “He’s married to an actress – I think I met her once, when I was a kid. Kudou Yukiko.”

It was very strange that the family of a phantom thief was so closely connected to the family of a detective.

“I’ve met her, too,” Sera said. “Also when I was a kid.”

“You have?”

“Yeah!” Sera pumped her fist. “I suspected the sender was her, but wasn’t sure. She’s the common connection. Yukiko-san remembered us and invited us. Case closed.”

Yet there was a hint of doubt in her voice. Kaito couldn’t blame her. It did seem like there was more to this, invisible ink goose chase and all.

Evidently, there were things he and Sera were not telling each other. Kaito supposed that detectives had secrets, too.

He took a sip of his juice, and grinned.

“Want me to show you a magic trick?”

Detectives were spoilsports, but maybe Sera was one of his more better-natured critics, when she wasn’t kicking the shit out of phantom thieves.

He took out a pack of cards and started shuffling.

\--

 

Scratch that. Sera was definitely another smug, stubborn critic.

“Seven out of seven, Kuroba-kun,” Sera proclaimed, as they emerged from the Lemongrass Hotel lobby. It was only a short walk to the Beika Theater.

“Six point five,” Kaito said. “You only partially guessed how my coin trick worked.”

“Somebody’s a sore loser,” she said, folding her hands behind her head. “Hmm, you’re very good at that. I once saw James Hopper’s show in London, when I was little. Kichi-nii – my brother – he kept whispering in my ear how Hopper’s tricks worked.”

“So being a spoilsport runs in your family.”

Sera grinned, snaggle-tooth peeking out of her mouth. “No. I told him to shut up, because he was ruining the magic. I actually wanted to become a stage magician for a while – to make people smile and laugh, y’know – but then I met two detectives and changed my mind.”

“It’s never too late to take up magic, Sera-san,” Kaito said.

“A detective is a magician, too,” she said.

Kaito didn’t see it, but she saw the spray of ocean waves as she said this. She smelled the scent of brine and felt the warmth of the sun.

“What do you mean?” Kaito asked. He thought back to a conversation he had with tantei-kun: the difference between detectives and thieves. He was a phantom thief who used magic and spectacle, building on the excitement of his audiences. Detectives chased him, foiled his heists and tricks, and lacked a sense of humor (cough, Hakuba).

“I don’t know if I can explain it,” Sera said. “I called the first detective I met a wizard. Didn’t you feel something – a thrill – when trying to track down the sender of our tickets? Somebody laid out a trail for us and put us on alert. It’s a _chase_ , and we get to deconstruct it, piece by piece. That feeling – it’s magic.”

The last couple of days certainly hadn’t been boring.

“Well,” Kaito acknowledged, “maybe it is. But I don’t think you’re a witch, Sera-san. You’re not scary enough.”

She was silent, her eyes widening briefly. Then she shrugged and said, “I can be scary when I want to, Kuroba-kun. Let’s go see that movie.”

\--

 _THE SCARLET INVESTIGATOR_ was the fictional story of an FBI agent who infiltrates a secret society made up of wealthy company executives who manipulate global economy and politics.

The FBI agent is named Benjamin Akamine, codename SCARLET. He falls in love with Ayako Aoki, the daughter of a CEO. The CEO is actually the boss of the secret society, and a star-crossed love story unfolds.

Ultimately, Ayako dies after she exposes the society’s existence to the world. Benjamin manages to kill the organization’s leader in revenge, but the society goes deeper underground.

Throughout the movie, there is a recurring character who might be the Night Baron, but he’s never named. He dresses in all black and never shows his face to the camera. He works to bring down the secret society: setting off bombs, planting computer viruses. His storyline never directly crosses with Benjamin’s, but his chaotic, dangerous actions indirectly help Ayako.

It’s implied that the explosion that killed Ayako may have killed the probable Night Baron as well. But at the end, there is a figure in black standing in the distance…

\--

Sera had a pensive expression on her face after the movie ended. She said, “That was…interesting. He reminded me of someone.”

“The Night Baron?”

Kaito had seen hints of his father: _I wouldn’t deceive you for the world,_ the man in black said. He was confronting the secret society leader, just about to drain all of their bank accounts.

“Benjamin Akamine,” Sera said. “Strong, stoic, smart FBI agent who drinks terrible coffee.” There was a thoughtful expression on her face; it looked like she wanted to say more, but she refrained.

“It looks like the movie got good reviews,” Kaito said, glancing down at this phone. “Critics think that the Night Baron at the end might be Benjamin, taking up the mantle.”

“No,” Sera said. “I don’t think he would. Benjamin is hiding somewhere else.”

“Who knows,” Kaito said. “Want to go find Kudou-san or Yukiko-san? They have to be here at the premiere somewhere.” He glanced through the busy crowd of people.

“They didn’t show up,” Sera said, who was checking her own phone now. “Apparently Kudou-san is on the run from his editors and Yukiko-san is trying to track him down.”

“He didn’t show up at his own movie premiere? How irresponsible.”

Sera was right. The director and several of the actors were present – photographed by a mob of reporters – but the screenwriter was conspicuously absent.

Sera smiled that snaggle-toothed smile again. “I don’t think the point of this mystery was to get us to meet them. I think Kudou-san wanted us to see the movie. To derive whatever meaning and importance we can from reality mixed with fiction. Right, Kid-san?”

“Probably,” Kaito agreed. “Wait, what?”

He was _so_ screwed.

“First of all, you’re a magician,” Sera said. “Second of all, Kudou Yusaku based the Night Baron on the original Kaitou Kid. I suppose he wanted you to see that film portrayal of him. The Night Baron in _The Scarlet Investigator_ is kind of out-of-character. He’s not as ruthless as his book counterpart, and there’s a reason for that. He’s not really the Night Baron – he’s the first Kaitou Kid.”

“What a weird joke, Sera-san,” Kaito said, forcing out a laugh. “Kid returned after seven years. It’s the same guy.”

“No, you’re much younger,” Sera said. “The first Kid was your mentor – maybe your father?”

Kaito flinched. He recovered himself, said flatly, “I’m not Kaitou Kid. Jeez, high school detectives; you sound like Hakuba.”

“Thirdly,” Sera went on, ignoring him, “you knew I was a girl.”

“Of course you are,” Kaito said. He had learned from his unfortunate mistake last time, which…okay, in retrospect, might have given him away this time.

She raised his eyebrows, as if to say _you see_?

“Anyway,” Sera said, evidently cheerful with her deduction, “I don’t think I’ll have you arrested. It’ll draw too much attention to me, and I’ll follow Edogawa-kun’s example in letting you go. Just make sure not to knock me out and lock me in the boys’ bathroom next time, or I’ll kill you.

“Plus, if the movie’s not wrong, you’re on the side of the good guys.

“By the way, that ‘Night Baron’ at the end of the movie? It doesn’t mean that he survived the explosion, but that he was succeeded by someone else. You.”

\--

Kudou Yusaku would not miss his own movie premiere, thank you very much. He had borrowed one of Yukiko’s disguises and was wearing a wig, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.

He overheard Sera Masumi’s speculations and smiled. He wished he could have had the chance to meet her properly. She had more energy and enthusiasm than her brother. Yusaku had caught a glimpse of her and Kuroba Kaito talking in the hotel lobby and it was good to see that they got along.

However, that last part of her deduction wasn’t completely accurate.

\--

_Seven years ago_

“Yusaku,” Kid said, his white wings extended, just a second away from taking off. “In these more modern times, magicians replace real birds with fake birds. What makes you think that the first crushed canary is real?”

**Author's Note:**

> Because [Gosho is a troll](https://shiniichi.tumblr.com/post/163411406336/deductionfreak-deductionfreak-so-uh-this-is%0A) and I've decided to take his word for it.


End file.
